Leung is Youngest on Canada's National Team

[shine]

IMO comparing the polish of Lipinski in 98 to that of Leung now is like comparing Kwan to Nelidina. :sheesh:

[Ladskater]

But really, what was so fresh about Leung besides her young age and perhaps the most unpolished skating I've seen in a while?

Shine:

It's just refreshing to see someone so young come along - loaded with talent - heading in the right direction. It's been quite a long time for our ladies discipline to rebuild and gain so many talented young skaters. She is like a "young colt" as it were at this stage of the game, but the talent is there and can be developed. I think it's great.

[robnic]

I too really like Mira Leung. I think she has tons of potential! I've been watching her since the days when she was coached by Karen Magnussen.

I think though, Barry Mittan should do a little better research on his subjects before he publishes. Mira didn't skip Novice or Juniors. Here is a list of her results before her Senior debut at 2003 Canadians in Saskatoon:

2003 BC Section Championships (Nov 2002)
2nd in Seniors (advanced straight to Cdns)

2002 Bratislava, Slovakia (Oct 2002)
14th in Juniors

2002 BC Section Championships (Nov 2001)
7th in Juniors (didn't qualify for Westerns or Cdns)

2001 BC Section Championships (Nov 2000)
8th in Juniors (didn't qualify for Westerns or Cdns)

2000 Mladost Trophey, Zagreb (March 2000)
4th in Novice

2000 BC Coast Regional Championships (Oct 1999)
8th in Novice (didn't qualify for BC Championships)

1999 *North American Challenge in Vancouver (August 1999)
7th in Novice
*she competed against another little whipper snapper: Beatrisa Liang

1999 Tomorrow's Champions (March 1999)
4th in Pre-Novice

1999 Western Divisionals (Dec 1998)
3rd in Pre-Novice

1999 BC Section Championships (Nov 1998)
2nd in Pre-Novice

I too have really enjoyed Mira's skating. However, I believe the reason that she didn't get past BC Sections as Novice or Junior was because her "triple" jumps were underrotated. She only seems to be fully rotating her jumps within the last couple years. Even at Canadians 2003 in Saskatoon, most of her jumps weren't fully rotated (and she was definately a "crowd favourite" there).

I always expected that once she corrected this problem, she would be right up there with the top skaters.